Peace lilies can grow bigger for longer with homemade banana fertiliser hack

Peace lilies are a popular house plant, as its flowers add a touch of elegance to wherever they are placed.

While these blooms usually don't last beyond two months, there is a hack to keep them around for longer - and it can even make peace lily flowers bigger and healthier. Even better, it involves the use of one fertiliser which can be made easily at home, saving you from a garden centre trip.

Bananas are a fruit known for their high potassium content and the same can be said for their skins. Using these nutrient-rich peels in gardening not only helps boost flowering plants to make them grow bigger and better, it also helps to reduce food waste.

Eva Katona, a gardening expert and founder of the eco-friendly website Captain Bobcat, has shared that the best way to get peace lily flowers is to save all your leftover banana peels to make into a homemade fertiliser, reports the Express.

However, gardeners cannot just bury the banana peels in the soil as not only is this method inefficient, but it can attract pests to peace lilies rather than helping them flower.

Eva said: “The rotting banana will attract insects like fruit flies and ants. It takes about two years for the banana peel to decompose too.”

Instead, you can turn banana peels into a liquid fertiliser by helping break down the banana peels and making them into potassium water to feed your plants.

Read below to learn her easy homemade fertiliser recipe that will lengthen the life of your peace lily.

How to make a potassium fertiliser to help peace lily flowers

All you need to do is place your leftover banana peels into a mason jar with a lid, then fill the jar up with water, screw the lid on tightly, and then set the jar side to rest.

Eva said: “I choose the simplest way: soaking the banana peel in water for up to a week, then dilute the banana peel infused water with fresh water and water the plants with it.”

According to Eva, it is best to leave the banana peels for a minimum of 24 hours but the longer you leave the jar alone the better, and you can even leave it for up to a month. Once you are ready to feed your peace lilies, throw the rotting banana peel into your compost bin and then dilute the feed from one part of potassium water to two parts of fresh water.

Give your peace lilies a deep watering, and repeat this step once every week to get magnificent and longer-lasting blooms during the flowering season. Not only can this easy homemade fertiliser be used to boost peace lilies, but it can be beneficial to other houseplants such as spider plants, aloe vera and snake plants.

Eva added: “Apart from the nutrients, banana peel fertiliser for indoor plants have additional benefits like repelling aphids and reducing transplanting shock It can improve the soil health too and enhance plant resilience. It’s also a cost-effective and eco-friendly way to top up your indoor plant fertilisers.”

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